\n<\/p>\n
The Finnish Defense Forces sent out an urgent message: We are being invaded. We need help.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of American troops \u2014 part of a new Arctic division \u2014 boarded planes in Fairbanks, Alaska. Their flight curved over the North Pole and landed at Rovaniemi Airport, in northern Finland. The soldiers quickly unpacked their M-4 assault rifles, rocket tubes and belt-fed machine guns and deployed to the quiet snowbound forests, dressed in Arctic whites and vaporproof boots.<\/p>\n
This was all just a drill, launched in mid-February. But the scenario is believed to be increasingly possible. As climate change melts ice across the Arctic, this part of the world, once so remote and forgotten, is becoming more accessible and more contested. The world\u2019s major militaries \u2014 American, Russian, Chinese and European \u2014 are all training for a winter war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really only been the past five or six years that everybody\u2019s moved on from the global war on terror,\u201d said Robert McBride, a Canadian brigadier general helping oversee the war game.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cArctic nations are starting to understand the strategic importance,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Arctic now has come to pre-eminence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The recent drill played out at a strange time in global affairs. President Trump has been leaning away from NATO and getting friendly with Russia, and European leaders are seriously discussing how to create their own defense industry should America abandon them, something unthinkable just a few months ago.<\/p>\n
But on this frozen ground, at least, American military cooperation and the perception of Russia as a widening threat appeared unchanged.<\/p>\n
In Finland, which fought the Soviet Union during World War II, Russia remains the once and future enemy. \u201cThere\u2019s an old Finnish saying,\u201d explained Janne Kuusela, a Finnish defense official, \u201cRussia will take what\u2019s not nailed to the wall.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
America\u2019s relationship with Finland, one of NATO\u2019s newest members, seems solid. President Trump recently played golf with its president, Alexander Stubb. Afterward he praised Mr. Stubb\u2019s golf skills and said, \u201cI look forward to strengthening the partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The two sides worked well together during the battle in the snow. The Finns were nimble attackers, zigzagging through the woods on long, narrow skis. The Americans set up machine guns on small round hilltops and dug foxholes in the snow. Both sides said Arctic warfare was different.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of like operating in space,\u201d said Christopher Brawley, an American colonel.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one\u2019s coming to help you,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd the environment will kill you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The cardinal rule is staying dry. Jackson Crites Videman, a Finnish soldier, recounted a grueling test that Finnish soldiers must pass. With all their gear on, including skis, they plunge through an ice hole cut into a river and have to scamper out \u2014 without freezing or drowning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The day he did it was minus 36 degrees Celsius (roughly minus 33 Fahrenheit). He had about two minutes to strip off drenched clothes and change into new ones before frostbite set in. And his hands stopped working.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour friends have to help you with the zippers,\u201d he explained. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Crites Videman, who is half-Finnish, half-American, was drafted into the Finnish military a few months ago. Finland is one of the few Western democracies with mandatory conscription. It\u2019s a country with a small population, 5.6 million, and NATO\u2019s longest border with Russia \u2014 830 miles \u2014 and it recently raised defense spending.<\/p>\n
Finnish defense experts say that tens of thousands of Russian troops used to be based near that border but were decimated in the Ukraine war. The Finns believe it will take five to 10 years before they become a threat again. Before the Ukraine war, the Finns say, Russia was investing in its Arctic forces, modifying tanks to operate better in the cold and designing new troop transporters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The United States has been doing the same. In 2022, it designated the 11th Airborne, based in Alaska, as its first and only Arctic division. The division is experimenting with new uniforms and different combat skis.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
During the exercise, the Americans showed off a new tracked vehicle that chewed its way up icy slopes, some quite steep. The soldiers lived off special cold weather rations, higher in calories, because of all the energy drained from trying to stay warm.<\/p>\n
Warfare during the Arctic summer isn\u2019t much easier. First, there is the issue of the sun. It never sets. So the advantage that night-vision equipment gives Western militaries is eliminated.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
When the ice melts, the land turns incredibly mushy. Upper Finland, for example, is covered in thick forests, small mountains, marshes, rivers, lakes and bogs, making it very difficult to navigate. In many ways, it\u2019s easier to move in winter.<\/p>\n
During the war game, the attackers exploited the frozen rivers like highways. Soldiers dashed across them, guns strapped to their backs. The commanders seemed pleased with the exercise and especially happy not to talk about politics.<\/p>\n
When asked if he were worried about Mr. Trump\u2019s friendliness with Russia, Sami-Antti Takamaa, a Finnish general, said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t worry me at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe U.S. airborne division just came from Alaska,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what matters to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n